“These last nine races have been something else,” Earnhardt said after his best points finish since he was fifth in 2006. “I feel good about it. … This has been one of the best years I've had, certainly the best year I've had working with Hendrick.

Not winning certainly will bother Earnhardt when he looks back on 2013. Wins during the regular season earn the top-10 drivers three bonus points for each win for the Chase, which might have given his team more confidence that it could rally from the 35th-place finish at Chicago to open the Chase.

“I don’t know what would have happened if we could have done Chicago over, but we ran so good in the other nine races, we’ve just got to be real proud of ourselves,” Earnhardt said.

“We’ve got nothing to be disappointed about. We’ve gotten better each year, and that’s what we’re supposed to do.”

The Hendrick Motorsports driver nearly got the win Sunday as he was leading before Denny Hamlin passed him with 24 laps remaining. Hamlin’s Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Matt Kenseth also made it by Earnhardt.

“I just couldn’t get by them,” said Earnhardt, who led 28 laps. “We were all using the top of the racetrack and that’s where we all needed to be. I couldn’t work the bottom, couldn’t make passes on the bottom at all.”

It was the story of his season — strong but not strong enough to make a late pass to win the race.

“We just couldn’t get it done,” Earnhardt said. “I’m a little disappointed that we couldn’t win the race, but it was a fun race, a fun battle and as good as we’re running, I think we can expect to be a competitor and give it another run next year.”